


The Call

by jareds1711



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Movie: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Novelization, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23339737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jareds1711/pseuds/jareds1711
Summary: As Rey and Kylo Ren fight atop the ruins of the fallen Death Star, the Princess of Alderaan comes to the end of her journey - but not before trying to reach her son one last time.
Kudos: 2





	The Call

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so, here it is: I thought that Leia’s death was such an emotional, beautiful moment in Episode IX. Given what the writers/producers had to work with, I couldn’t have asked for a better send off. As it was such a favorite scene of mine, I was easer to read it in the film’s novelization. However, I found it a little… rushed in the story. The scene was almost lackluster, in my opinion, which of course doesn’t cover the novelization as a whole. So, instead, I just decided to write my own version of Leia’s send-off, going entirely off of how this scene looked, how the actors portrayed their characters, and how it made me feel. I hope you all enjoy it… or at least cry, like I did writing this.

Leia’s hand grasped the side of the monitor. A shaky exhale escaped her lips. Somewhere in the distance, a faint peal of thunder rolled, heralding the gentle rain that trickled through the jungle canopies of Ajan Kloss and right down into the Resistance base. 

It was time. 

She could feel it. It was all coming together, like the pieces of a puzzle snapping into place as her destiny unfolded. The General slowly walked away from the monitor, hands clasped together as she passed swirling emerald displays showing a galaxy at war. Her gaze was a thousand miles away.

Leia felt Rey… and Ben. They were fighting, somewhere out there amongst the stars. Darkness, cold, and pain radiated from them both, their anguish rippling through space and towards the woman who loved them dearly. It was almost like she was right there with them, as if she could hear the faint echoes of Rey’s shout and Kylo’s saber beside her. Leia could feel it right down to her heart – a strange, harrowing shift in the Force. Rey was in danger of losing her life, and Ben was in danger of finally losing his soul. Not yet, but soon. A moment was coming where everything could change.

Leia’s hand reached out to grab another monitor, steadying herself as realization dawned. Somehow, in some timeless, inexplicable way, the Force was giving Leia a chance. One last chance to reach Ben.

All those years ago, on this very planet, Leia had seen the end of her path in a vision from the Force. And that path had always been leading her here. Leia took in a deep breath as she made her choice – as if she would choose anything else. 

Her son needed her. 

Ben Solo was still alive. She had to believe that. That incredible, shy, scared, bright little boy that trailed in mud and never let her cut his hair was still alive, held captive by shadow and hidden behind the mask of Kylo Ren. And by the Force, Leia would get him back. She’d lost too much not to take this chance. If there was a chance… even a small chance of change in Ben’s soul, she had to take it. For his sake. For Rey’s. For her own. It had only been a few years, but Ben’s fall still hurt as if it had happened yesterday – and it felt like decades that he had left her. 

_No one’s ever really gone._

She could have sworn she heard Luke’s voice say it. 

And Leia understood what it would cost. She could feel that too, not just in her heart but in her bones. She’d been through so much. The darkness of grief and the crushing blackness of space had both taken their toll on Leia in the past year; it was only by the will of the Force and Leia’s own fiery spark that she was still standing. She had to, for everyone else. 

But maybe it was time for her to finally rest. 

Leia slowly became aware of everyone else’s stares. The Resistance officers and pilots around her had stopped their work, looking at their beloved General with concern written across their faces. Leia’s breath caught in her throat. 

Was the Resistance ready?

Leia turned over her shoulder. She’d been preparing them for this moment – all of them, as much as she could. Everything she’d learned from her teachers, Leia had tried to pass on: hope and wisdom, strength and strategy, kindness and courage. Leia had tried to show all of that to them; to prepare them for the day when she wasn’t there. That’s what a good leader did – that’s what Bail Organa taught her years ago. 

And that time had come. She met Beaumont, Rose, and Snap’s eyes briefly, and the General nodded to herself. The galaxy was in good hands. 

Something drew the General’s gaze away. The woman looked over to her quarters, tucked into a peaceful, small corner of the cave base. A quiet place. That was where she could go.

Leia let go of the monitor and took a step forward. Her leg shook slightly – her body trembling and chest aching as her years suddenly weighed down around her. But she kept walking. The General stumbled slightly, and she heard a few gasps, but warm hands suddenly grasped her shoulder and steadied her arm. 

“I’ve got you General,” Lieutenant Connix assured her. “I’ve got you.”

Leia gave her a small smile and accepted her help. Connix had grown so much in the past year.

They all had. 

As Connix helped Leia to her quarters, walking with her step in step, Leia could hear R2-D2 give a faint, confused whir in the distance. 

“Leia knows what must be done, R2,” the voice of Maz Kanata said softly. “To reach her son now will take all the strength she has left.”

It would. But Leia imagined Ben’s gleaming eyes and gentle smile from so long ago, and she knew it would be worth it. Maybe Leia wouldn’t see that smile again, but she hoped someone else could. Ben’s smile held all the Light in the galaxy as far as Leia was concerned. 

She’d given so much to Rey, and Poe, and Finn, and the Resistance, but Leia had given them all she could now. They would do her proud. Of that, she had no doubt. So maybe it was time for her to give her last bit of strength to Ben. That would be the final victory for her – not another space battle with insurmountable odds, but a final fight against destiny itself for Ben. To see him again, and to call him back to the Light. One last act of love, from a mother to her son.

Leia couldn’t think of a better way to go.

~

The dark ocean of Kef Bir raged around them. Every torrent of water spilling up from the merciless barrage of waves was ice against the man’s skin. His cold, soaked robes hung heavily against his body, as if trying to hold him back from raising his saber again. But for all of the bracing, frigid assaults of ocean water around Kylo, there an unstoppable fire raging. His veins were white-hot, blood rushing in his ears just as loudly as the ocean’s thunderous roars. Kylo could feel himself burning with seething anger. It spurred him onwards, the crackling flames in his soul echoing the crackling energy of his lightsaber as he brought it down again and again. Nothing would stop him. Nothing. 

And he could feel the anger in her too. Pure, unfiltered fury. It showed on Rey’s face, eyes almost black with despairing wrath; Kylo could even see it in the knuckle-white grip on her lightsaber. He could _feel_ it, just as real and powerful as if it was his own, as if it had always been his. He could feel her frustration, indignation, confusion, fear, loathing, loneliness – she felt so much it was beginning to tear her apart. Just like him. 

Rey felt so much that it poured out from her, in sickening waves of anger and sadness that felt darker than the black ocean waves around them. And Kylo felt the same. Through their bond, Kylo could feel them building on each other’s rage, aggravating their guilt and hatred and numbness – making each other’s pain their own, using it against each other just as much as the lightsabers in their hands. 

They swung their sabers through the air, and the blades collided together. A shower of sparks burst from where they met. 

At any other time, neither of them would have won. They were too well-matched. They knew each other’s moves before they could make them, and their power – mysterious and terrifying and captivating as it was – was too closely tied together. Rey and Kylo were both strong, and even when they fought their powers became a singular, unbidden strength in the Force. 

But Rey was exhausted. Kylo could feel the weakness draining her second by second. Her arms were failing her. Her legs were staggering, desperately trying to hold her up. Her parries and swinging arcs had slowed, and Rey was beginning to realize it. She couldn’t do this for much longer. Good. Kylo wanted this fight to be over.

With one masterful blow, Kylo knocked Rey down to her knees. _Stop this,_ Kylo could feel himself hissing into the Force. _Enough._ He had won. She was weak and he had won. He won.

He lowered his saber. Rey had to stop fighting him and stop fighting herself. Why couldn’t she just see that? Why couldn’t Rey just _listen?_ Why, for all the resonance between them in the Force, could she not understand, just see what he knew?

Rey’s eyes flickered upwards at him, and with a grimace, she raised her saber again. Kylo wanted to scream with fury, and he swung his lightsaber down on her with uncontrollable rage. 

Why was she always running from him, when she belonged with him and he belonged with her? Hadn’t she seen that? Why couldn’t she even see that now, with all the darkness shattering her spirit? Couldn’t Rey see that this was her destiny, that this was who she was all along, that she was broken and dark and twisted just like him? 

He brought his saber down on her again, and Rey was barely able to block it in time. Rey let out a cry of pain as she lost her balance. She stumbled backwards, fallen and back pressed up against the rusted shell of an ion cannon.

It was killing Kylo that she was blind to it, that she was fighting him even now. She was supposed to be the one person that understood him.

Against his will, a manic terror starting to claw at his heart. If Rey couldn’t understand him, if she couldn’t see why he fell to the darkness, then no one ever could. If his _other half_ was fighting against him, then maybe it meant he would always be fighting himself.

Kylo was blind with passion, all of his rampant, unbridled ferocity and fear spilling forth into his hands as he brought his lightsaber high. Rey looked up at him, eyes wide with fear, but it was like Kylo couldn’t even see her. He wanted to be free of this pain, this never-ending pain that followed him everywhere he went like a shadow.

And then everything stopped.

_Leia was silhouetted in shadow. Behind her, the lights of the Resistance base glowed. The water droplets of Ajan Kloss’s gentle rain shimmered as they fell behind Leia, like a curtain protecting her from the rest of the world._

_Her finger gently brushed over the glistening gold of Han’s medal in her hand. She would be seeing him again soon. And Luke. And maybe, just maybe, all their sacrifices wouldn’t be in vain. Maybe Ben would finally see that Han had always loved him, that Luke was sorry for failing him, and that she had always forgiven him._

_R2-D2 let out a soft beep beside her. She was glad her friend was here – he’d always been there, since the beginning of her journey. And now he was here at the end. Her path had ended, and the suns were setting on her time. This was her chance._

_She looked ahead. In a single instant, Leia reached out with every last bit of longing, forgiveness, and hope she could give. Ajan Kloss faded away, and the Princess’s spirit and mind traversed the vastness of space._

_And into one word, Leia poured out her heart. With the power of the Force surrounding her, her soul and strength one with the Light, Leia called her son home._

_“Ben.”_

Her voice echoed between the stars, across the endless fields of stardust, and right to her son. The crashing waves fell silent, and the cold left his body. Everything in his world was still, and Ben turned.

And just for a moment, he saw her, like she was right in front of him, just a few inches out of reach. A thousand memories came crashing down on Kylo Ren like the white, misted spray of the ocean waves. A scar, one that he thought he could finally ignore, opened again inside of him and fractured his soul. 

_Mom._

_Leia laid herself onto the bed. The medal was still in her hand. Leia felt peace and shadow wash over her aching body, and when she closed her eyes, she saw the face of her son. He had heard her, and she had touched his soul._

The angry crimson blade of Kylo’s lightsaber extinguished, and the blackened hilt fell forgotten from his hand. 

Rey reached forward and grabbed it. 

With an inhuman cry of fury and fear, Rey leapt up and ignited the scarlet saber. It cut through the air, and she plunged it through Kylo Ren’s body. With a spitting, sparking rage, the blade burst from the man’s back. 

Rey and Kylo Ren’s eyes met, and with a horrific, sickening agony, Rey could feel the lingering presence of the woman she loved most. The two stood frozen as they felt Leia pass from their world and into the next. 

“Leia,” Rey gasped. Her voice filled the harrowing silence.

The red blade vanished, and Kylo stumbled backwards. A thunderclap of torrential water resounded as he fell onto the cold metal of the Death Star beneath him.

Rey felt tears streaming down her face, her body trembling as she turned to look at the man beside her. His lips were parted in shock, and he didn’t even look like he was breathing. He just sat there, stunned and broken, and it was almost like Rey’s pain and his were one. There was no more rage, no more anger between them – it had all been snuffed out and shattered in an instant. There was only a shared agony of loss, sudden and dreadful and cold.

Rey slowly knelt down beside him. Even through the spraying ocean drops, Rey could see the shocked tears falling down his cheeks. He wasn’t even looking at her, but Rey could see – no, _feel_ – the confusion and anguish drowning him. Whatever scar had been carved into his heart by Han’s death had now become a gaping chasm. He had just lost his mother, and her last act had been to show him love and save Rey’s life.

The young woman looked down to see where she had stabbed Kylo. A hole in his robes revealed a cavernous hole of singed, mangled flesh that ripped through his midsection. Rey didn’t even need to feel his pain in the Force to know Kylo Ren was dying. It was almost like a part of her was fading too.

Leia’s last act had been to save her life and to reach her son. Rey wasn’t going to let her sacrifice be in vain.

Her hand reached towards Ben’s midsection. Her fingers spread apart, and Rey closed her eyes, pushing out the wetness of her tears. A downfall of frigid water fell against her, but she drowned out the sights and sounds of the world around her. Rey looked within, and harnessed the boundless power of the Force in the air and waters of Kef Bir. 

She gave herself to the man. She could feel her life, her energy and luminous light in the Force leave her body. It trickled through her veins and towards her fingertips. Kylo blinked, as if finally returning from the emptiness of his thoughts.

Cells grew and bonded together. Blood vessels reconnected, and sinewy muscles melded into each other. The color of the gash became lighter and lighter, and skin finally covered the wound that was no longer there. Life came back into Kylo, pulling him back from the edge. His body was changing, scars mending and pain fading as Rey poured herself out to him. Kylo and Rey breathed in deeply together. The man looked down in shock at his wound and turned his head to Rey. He stared at her, uncomprehending.

Rey, tears streaming down her face, faintly met his eyes. She pulled her hand back. The woman’s eyes tore away from Ben’s stare, and she let out a choked sob.

Everyone she loved kept being taken away from her. Rey had so little left to hold on to. She could barely even imagine how it now felt for the man in front of her. Loneliness suffocated him wherever he went.

No wonder he had been so desperate for them to stand together. And, if she was being truthful, Rey felt that too. Of course she wanted Leia’s son to come home. She’d wanted that ages ago, when she saw all he could be through the Force. There was so much unspoken longing between them, so mysterious and powerful that Rey could never put it into words. Rey wished that she could have joined him sooner… but not Kylo Ren. 

Rey looked into his eyes again. 

“I _did_ want to take your hand,” she confessed. “ _Ben’s_ hand.” 

And Rey pulled herself up. Without another glance, she ran. She kept running, away from the loss, away from the man behind her, away from herself.

She left behind Ben Solo, confused and shaken on the Death Star ruins. And as he sat there, dazed and lost, the man couldn’t do anything except let the tears continue to fall down his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Feedback is, of course, ALWAYS appreciated!


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